Often we are under the impression that we would live a
less sinful life if we were more committed to Jesus. Being more committed
to Jesus means we will try harder to live for God instead of for sin. If
we have bought into this myth, we have realized it leads to failure upon
failure. Why? Because being more committed to Jesus actually puts
us in a position to live in our own religious strength instead of His divine
strength. Being more committed to Him causes us to act as though we are separate from Him. That would be like
pushing our lawn mower over our yard without any gas in the engine in hopes
that it would cut the grass. No wonder many people give up on the
Christian life completely.
God does not want us to get more committed to
Him. What may surprise us is that the words "commit" and
"committed" are used 99% of the time in the Old and New Testaments in
the context of committing sin. They are never ever used to tell us to get
more committed to God.
Then what does God want? For we who
believe, He wants us to daily surrender to Jesus in us. This puts us in a
place of dependence on Him and not ourselves. Rather than living as
though we are separated from God, we live from our union with Him. Take a quick look at a few scriptures
describing our union with Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:17 "But the one
who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Romans 7:4
"...you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so
that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in
order that we might bear fruit for God." Galatians 2:20, "I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me." Philippians 1:21 "For to
me, to live is Christ..."
Surrendering to Christ so we can live from
our union with Him is saying, "I am willing to do whatever You want
me to do today and I am depending completely on You Who lives in me to do those
things through me". Do you see how different this is from being more
committed to Him?
I have had the privilege of mentoring all
three of my sons. One said to me, "I just can't live the Christian
life!" As we talked through it, what became obvious was that deep
down he believed the myth that being committed to Jesus Christ would result in
living a life which overcomes sin and he was failing over and over. You
see, he was so focused on his behavior that he was missing the wonderful
relationship of our union with Christ. I encouraged him to focus more on
that and in time the behavior would follow.
The good news for us today is that we can stop trying to be more committed to Jesus and can surrender to Him, since we are united to Him - He is in us and we are in Him. Are you willing to begin right now? Go ahead and tell Him. Even if we don't feel any different or see an immediate change in our behavior, let's not give up. Over time, we will be transformed.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding
